Warranty and Boxes

[kblranch]

I know this has been discussed a bunch but has anyone actually been denied warranty because of an Edge EZ or any other performance box? I am especially interested in 3rd gen owners. Did you have the box on when you took it in or did they find it on a computer search?

 

[BigGunZ]

I haven't had any experience with my Ram yet but have a highly modified Vette that's been in for warranty work. I have found that if you use your selling dealer, there's less of a chance they'll give you grief... . after all, you just spent 40+k with them. Also, know what's wrong with your rig before you take it in. While not always possible, it allows you to "steer" them in a certain direction and more importantly, shows them that you can't be BS'd if you know what you're talking about. I've yet to have a dealer refuse warranty work because of mods but if a mod of mine "legitimately" causes a problem, I'll suck it up and pay for the work, but if a dealer refuses coverage on my stereo because I have an exhaust system, I'll become the customer from hell really fast. Lastly, if you have a box, and run it conservatively and care for your truck, problems are unlikely as these engines are very "over-built". If you race it around routinely, you're asking for something to go wrong.

When it comes to performance boxes, warranty concerns are one reason that I prefer downloaders... . No non-factory components added to the vehicle that can fail... . Nothing to remove if something goes wrong. You're simply changing parameters in a factory device, that has been designed to allow parameter changes but as I said earlier if your parameter changes causes a problem... you'll be fixing it yourself.

 

[osiris]

is the BDDL similar to the powermaxcr as in the dealer cant see it once you turn it back to stock?

 

[Bertram65]

Actually someone had posted on here about warrantee denial and it was the downloader type of box that the dealer was able to detect, pretty sure the way they can tell is when the origional program is reloaded back into the ECM all the counters are reset so for instance if you had 10k miles it might only show the truck had been started 5 times, the downloaders are the only ones I have heard of actually being detected after being removed. The other type of boxes that hook up inline to the sensors only alter the signals from the sensors being sent to the computer tricking the computer into providing more fuel or altering timing ect.

 

[Tomeygun]

I know when our techs look into a trucks ECM and see the start count, the DL'ers start that rolling count over...



BIG tell-tale sign to us dealers is the DL'er, where as a analog (fooling) box will not show up

 

[BigGunZ]

is the BDDL similar to the powermaxcr as in the dealer cant see it once you turn it back to stock?

Yes, with the push of a button. But as others have just stated, it leaves a fingerprint.

That said, I still prefer a DL'r but for different reasons... there's no component that can malfunction and the things a DL'r can change are "etched in stone" so to speak. In other words, when a "fooler fails" it can make the ECM do very bad things whereas ECM's have been known to operate trouble free for hundreds of thousands of miles, even being flashed. It's from purely a component standpoint I prefer DL'ers... because there are no components except what the factory provided... components which are widely regarded as being bullet-proof.

In the end, It's really more of a personal preference as both have the potential to create warranty issues equally, and both have some pros and cons. I feel DL'ers are more simplistic in nature, and computer flashing to be safer than computer fooling. Some folks have opposing opinions and raise valid points as well.

 

[osiris]

so can the dealer tell at all if you have a tst box and then take it off?

 

[TRAMPLINEMAN]

What if you pick up a 2nd ECM and downlod into that one. Then, if something goes wrong, put the stock one back in and take it to the dealer.

 

[GButia]

That is a popular choice for dmax owners.